As Guyana gears up for first oil in 2020, civil society, private sector groups and members of the public have been echoing the need for a clear-cut plan on how oil revenue will be spent in the South American country.
With the State set to earn close to one million US dollars per day when production begins, OilNOW recently caught up with some members of the public to find out what their views were on the best way forward for the establishment of an all-inclusive development plan for oil and gas. This is what they had to say;
“Definitely they (Government & Opposition) should be working together. They are the ones that are in the leadership position for the country right now so to have them working hand-in-hand in this aspect; it will be very beneficial to the public. Also…our former President Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo – he is an economist so to have his views and the input of some of the certified members of his Opposition (Party) will be very beneficial to the planning and policy making that the government will have to do.”
“Well my view is that Government and the Opposition should work together. Remember they are the representatives of Guyana – the people of Guyana right – so they should work together because they should have the aim of the people at heart so to have a better plan on how this oil could be used for the betterment of the people. The cooperation between the two parties should be one of the objectives of the current government so we can have the view of both the PPP and the current government response, and also the ideas they would have about the use of the monies received.”
“I think the two parties should work together because it promotes transparency.”
“The Government and the Opposition are supposed to work together. They are the two main parties of the country and they are supposed to work along together for the betterment of Guyanese.”
“I think the Government and the Opposition are one; they don’t have the knowledge of ExxonMobil and how they go about doing things. What I think they should do is first seek knowledge from people who have the…experience. Countries that went through whatever with Exxon Mobil and get first-hand knowledge from them…because if the Government and the Opposition work together it is like two people without knowledge of this situation. it’s better for the Government to have the knowledge from the people who have the experience and then invite the Opposition at meetings with these people who have the knowledge and put what they get together and choose the best solution so that the Guyanese people can really rejoice, because watch Omai what they did to us and all the other people what they did to us.”
“They (the Government) want cooperation but they are not getting it because everything the Government tries to do the Opposition condemning. You cannot condemn, you got to come together, this is our country you got to come together and fix it. You can’t have one pulling this way and one pulling the other way we will never get anywhere. We have to flex sometimes and no flexing is happening. I believe the Opposition and the Government should come together and sit at a table and iron out all the problems and take advice when necessary. Let them come together and have a talk and the country will be a better place. We don’t want race.”
Above comments above by ‘Michael’ hits the nail on the head. Both government and opposition need to cooperate and work together and stop fighting over whose ‘birthday cake’ it is. And yes, it’s not smart to make judgement on things that one has little knowledge of. If expert oil advice and oil players expertise is needed, then seek that out. United we move forward and divide we fall. Let’s learn from our own history of ‘divide and conquer’ while at the same time acknowledging that negotiating with elephants ain’t easy. Those with the gold usually make the rules but it is that much easier today with technology and knowledge management to strike the right balance to negotiate a win-win for all parties concerned: Exxon Mobile and Guyana.